ST. LOUIS —The Braves are done on Thursday once again. But this time, it was a heartbreaker.

For the third year in a row, the Bradley men’s basketball team fell in the play-in round of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament, losing to 10th seeded Loyola 74-72 at Scottrade Center.

The Ramblers (10-21), who were swept by the Braves during the season, snapped a six-game losing streak when freshman Milton Doyle hit a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer from 30 feet.

“It was a great play drawn up by coach,” said Doyle. “I saw the time on the clock and I just took it. I felt going off my fingertips it was a great shot. We did the little things to get the shot off.”

The shot nullified a comeback by Bradley, which trailed by nine points at 6:43.

“We got ourselves in a hole, but showed more character and toughness the last eight minutes than has been our norm,” said BU coach Geno Ford. “It was a heckuva shot by Doyle. A disappointing end of the game and end of the year. An emotionally draining game.”

Walt Lemon scored 24 points for the Braves.

“It’s hard to end the season like that,” the senior guard said. “A little bit tough for me right now. I wasn’t ready to go home. I packed for four days. I made up my mind to be more aggressive.”

Loyola coach Porter Moser said his team focused on moving the ball via passes rather than dribbling against BU’s trapping defense.

“It was one of those games where both teams left it on the floor,” said Moser, whose group will face second-seeded Indiana State on Friday (21-9). “I was really proud of our guys. We only had 11 turnovers and that was a key. We really shared the ball. Our guys really believed.

“That was the best we’d moved the ball against Bradley in the two games we’d played them.”

Lemon and Tyshon Pickett combined for 49 points to lead the Braves (12-20).

Doyle finished with 19 points to top the Ramblers, who had four players in double figures.

Loyola shot 62 percent to forge a 43-35 halftime lead behind the 13-point shooting of Peorian Jeff White. The Manual graduate finished with 14 points, but had no turnovers in his 36 minutes.

White, whose father, Charles White, starred at Bradley in the early 1990s, equaled his total points in the first two games against the Braves in the first 20 minutes.

“The first two games against them I played bad,” said White. “My mindset was to play hard.”

Page 2 of 2 - BU led 15-13 with 10:34 left in the first half when the Ramblers surged the rest of the period, scoring on 12 of their last 16 possessions.

“They really hedge hard on ball screens and they’re physical when they do it,” Moser said. “We had dribbled too much the first two games against them. We wanted to get out of the ball screen and then move it. We were stronger with the ball.”

The Ramblers continued their assault to begin the second half beginning with a 3-pointer by Christian Thomas. By 16:03, the lead had grown to 51-40.

Bradley then began to chip away at the deficit. Lemon scored on a pair of driving layups and Auston Barnes converted a three-point play on a baseline drive, cutting the margin to 53-27 at 13:44.

“It hurt the way the game ended,” said Ford. “But I hope it will give our young guys some resolve for the future.”

Evansville 69, Drake 61

D.J. Balentine scored 30 points to ignite the Purple Aces to a play-in victory over the Bulldogs in Thursday’s opening tournament game.

Ninth-seeded Evansville (14-18) took control midway through the first half, forging a 39-28 halftime lead. Richard Carter’s 26 points and seven assists led Drake (15-16).

Evansville, which shot 51 percent from the field, advanced to Friday’s quarterfinal against top-seeded Wichita State at 12:05 p.m.

Dave Reynolds can be reachedat 686-3210 or dreynolds@pjstar.com.Follow him on Twitter @davereynolds2.